Playin’ hurt:
It has definitely been a rough couple of weeks for me playing softball. I dislocated my knee cap last Sunday, and I took two line drives, one off my arm and one off my ankle, this past Sunday. Check out the pictures below. Thanks again to Maryland Orthotics and prosthetics because I was back to the knee brace again after I dislocated my knee cap again.
That left me playing at about 80% for Charm City Electric’s Tuesday night doubleheader last night. I have to admit that being 44 and playing anything less than 100% is not easy. But I made a commitment to my team so I was out there ready to go. Our team dropped both games of our double header on Tuesday night, losing 15-5 in game one and 9-8 in game two. Thanks to Thyrl Nelson for coming out and playing with our team last night. Thyrl played pretty well behind the plate and almost made a spectacular catch up against the fence in game one. I like Thyrl as a player because he hustles on every play.
It certainly wasn’t my best performance on the mound last night but I was pretty happy with what I was able to do at the plate. I went 3-5 with a couple of RBI’s. Things just didn’t go right for us in game one. A ball that would have been caught hit off the light pole, they got a couple of bloops and seeing eye hits and before we knew it we were behind and just couldn’t get going in our 15-5 loss. Things like that happen sometimes. Our game two performance was just flat out disappointing and I have to call out some of my teammates in the way we lost game two.
We were up 8-6 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. I came up with one out and a runner on first and instead of just driving the ball down the right field line I tried to go to the opposite field and flied out to left instead. I figured that I would still get one more turn at the plate but it never happened as I was left in the on deck circle to end the game. Our opponent, the Manhattan Grille scratched out three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Two of them on a two-run single up the middle to take the lead. We had multiple chances to get the tying run home in the sixth and seventh inning and just couldn’t get a key hit.
I am not going to sit here and say that our team quit. I don’t think that’s the case, but our team’s attitude and approach to the game is just horrible. Maybe it’s just a generation thing, but when I do something I commit 100% to it and I just don’t see that same commitment from some of the players on our team. I think that mentality is a big part of winning. You have to want that at bat when the game is on the line. You have to always keep your head in the game because every single play is crucial. Most importantly you can never assume that you are out of an inning no matter what the situation. I think it comes down to this for me. No matter how I feel I always make a full commitment and give 100% in everything I do. Sometimes I just don’t see that same commitment from my teammates. I want to get Thyrl’s thoughts on this as someone who played with our team for the first time last night. It should make for some interesting conversation at the end of Wednesday’s show. Remember if i can do it you can do it too.
Until next time…
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